


Back to you

by MagicalDragon



Category: The Defenders (Marvel TV)
Genre: Ficlet, Gen, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Past Relationship(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-21
Updated: 2017-08-21
Packaged: 2018-12-18 09:28:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 920
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11871435
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MagicalDragon/pseuds/MagicalDragon
Summary: Foggy is Matt's ex - and Luke's lawyer.





	Back to you

When Matt arrived with Foggy at the precinct, there were many other heartbeats in the room, most of which Matt didn’t recognise. He did recognise a few, though: Claire’s was the one he knew best, followed by Luke’s. They were talking together in hushed voices that Matt decided not to listen to. Still, their postures definitely suggested they were close. Probably dating, judging by Luke’s body language when he mentioned her earlier. 

“Claire!” Foggy exclaimed when he spotted her. 

A swift movement of Claire’s head suggested that she was now looking at Foggy. Or maybe at Matt himself. Foggy, who was leading Matt, moved eagerly towards her, with a haste Matt knew he wouldn’t have used back when he didn’t know about Matt’s super senses. 

They each gave Claire a quick hug and Matt found himself with a genuine smile on his face. An odd thing, in the middle of all of this, but he’d missed both Foggy and Claire, and being with them both again, even under these circumstances... it was nice. 

“You know each other?” Luke asked, gesturing between Claire and Matt. 

Claire made a helpless gesture and Matt didn’t get a chance to say anything before Luke spoke again:

“Wait… you're my lawyer.”

He was pointing at Foggy now. 

“Sure am,” Foggy said with his usual charm. 

A charm Matt had missed. It had been a constant in his life for so many years that he’d taken it for granted until he was suddenly unable to bring that side out in Foggy anymore. Had it been a few months earlier, Matt doubted he’d have seen it now. But they were rebuilding. When Matt told Foggy he needed to go to the precinct, the argument he’d been dreading didn’t come. Sure, sighs and sarcasm had been directed at him, but no anger, no protests. They were - slowly, so very slowly - rebuilding their relationship to each other and it was terrifying. 

“I didn't know you represented Luke Cage?”

“Lot you don't know these days, Matt,” Foggy said. 

The words were not spoken with the bitterness they had been spoken with in the past, but with a joking air to them so characteristic of Foggy that Matt barely suppressed a smile. 

“So how do you know each other?” Luke asked. 

“We used to be law partners,” Matt said. “And, uhm… “

“I'm his somewhat amicable ex, is what he's trying to say,” Foggy supplied.

“Right,” Matt said. 

Foggy turned towards him. 

“Catholic guilt still getting to you?” he joked.

That, too, could have been spoken with bitterness, but wasn’t. Matt remembered all too well the frustration Foggy had felt in the beginning of their relationship. He’d understood to some extent, of course, and he’d known Matt needed time, but when Foggy was both the person Matt felt guilty for wanting and the only close friend Matt had and thus the only one Matt would admit his struggles to… Well, there was just no way for that to turn out well. 

It had worked out in the end, of course. Until it hadn’t.

Still, they were working their way back together. Not to a relationship, Matt was sure Foggy would never want that with him again, but Foggy’s friendship was more than enough. Rather than bitterness, that was what it felt like: friendship. It was the sort of grief they used to give each other all the time, a reminder of the casual manner they used to have with each other. It felt like a home Matt had left and been denied. 

“Don't bring my college angst into this,” Matt replied. 

“He had a gay panic,” Foggy told Luke. 

Matt laughed. He sensed Claire turning her head as to hide a smile, too. 

“Alright, that’s enough, Foggy,” he said. “Luke, we should get going.”

“We should,” Luke agreed. “Just give us a minute.”

“Of course.”

“Karen?” Foggy asked as they walked away from Luke and Claire. 

“Should be on her way.”

“Good.”

 

Matt and Luke had been walking in silence for several minutes when Luke spoke.

“You know, for exes you two still seem pretty close.”

“Don’t.”

“Alright,” Luke sighed. “Just trying to be friendly…”

Matt sighed too. He was supposed to be working on his faults, right? Luke already knew who he was in both of his lives, anyway. He’d been making a leap of trust the moment he gave Jessica back her scarf. He probably did need to talk about Foggy with someone who wasn’t all tangled up in their mess. 

“We were friends long before we were anything else. Best friends. At this point, I don’t think either of us could give up on the other - not really.”

Luke turned his face towards Matt. If Matt had to guess, he’d say he was frowning. 

“What happened?” Luke asked.

The corner of Matt’s mouth twitched.

“I was an asshole.”

Luke laughed. 

“Well, I can’t exactly say I’m surprised. Still, it’s good you’re still looking out for each other. People like us… we need people.” 

It was a strange thing to hear. Stick had taught Matt that having people was a weakness, that it would hold him back, and he had succeeded in getting that message through to him much better than Matt had initially thought. That only made it all the more necessary for Matt to hear, though. 

Instead of expressing any of this - of how much Luke’s words meant just now, in this part of his growth - Matt just noded.

“You’re lucky to have Claire,” he said. 

“I know.”

**Author's Note:**

> I really missed some of these characters interacting on the show.


End file.
